HONG KONG (SE): In July 2011, Bishop Joseph Sun Jigen played a bit of hide and seek with the government over his episcopal ordination in Handan, when he set a false date for his ordination, for which he had Holy See approval, as July 29.

But as the day approached, he announced that in fact he had already been ordained at another location on June 21 in order to prevent illicitly ordained bishops from being present.

In the eyes of the Vatican he became the coadjutor of the diocese of Handan.

HONG KONG (UCAN): A rushed and hidden burial for the bishop of Urumqi in China’s volatile Xinjiang province and an expansive public ceremony for the bishop of Taiyuan in Shanxi province tell the story of two unequal funerals carried out during August that reflect the difference in attitude of the state authorities towards the official and unofficial Church communities.

HONG KONG (SE): Comments doing the rounds on Catholic social media in China over the stood down Bishop Thaddaeus Ma Daqin being invited to celebrate Mass in the cathedral in Mindong on Easter Sunday call it big news, but sad news.

They also describe it as a slap in the face from the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association for the Vatican.

HONG KONG (UCAN): In recent years, whenever a government-backed bishop not approved by the Vatican appears at an episcopal ordination along with Vatican-approved bishops, Chinese Catholics mock it with the saying “mixing sand with rice.”

A priest writing under the name of Father Peter Peng, who describes himself as an observer in northern China, said that the first time he heard the phrase was from the late Father Yan Wenda in 1984.

HONG KONG (UCAN): The Church in China and, it has been reported, the Vatican as well are perturbed at the appearance of Bishop Paul Lei Shiyin, who has been declared by the Holy See to have incurred self-inflicted excommunication, at two ordinations of bishops, one on November 30 and the other December 2.

Bishop Lei concelebrated at the ordination Mass of Father Joseph Tang Yuange in Chengdu and Father John Lei Jiapei in Xichang.

HONG KONG (AsiaNews): November 10 has been set as the date for the ordination of Father Peter Ding Lingbin as the new bishop of Changzhi, in Shanxi province, China. The ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul.

While the date and place have been set at relatively short notice, Father Ding received his approval for ordination from the Vatican some two years ago.

HONG KONG (SE): A maverick priest from the unofficial Church community in Zhengding in Hebei, Father Paul Dong Guanhua (see page 12), claims that in engineering his own ordination as a bishop he is modelling himself on Bishop Joseph Fan Xueyan, the first bishop in China to ordain another clandestinely without a specific mandate from the Vatican (1981).

WENZHOU (AsiaNews): The death of Bishop Vincent Zhu Weifang, from Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, on the morning of September 7 at the age of 90 has sparked a looming crisis in the continued leadership of the diocese.

The coadjutor bishop set to succeed him was reported to have been kidnapped by police a few days before Bishop Zhu’s death and was not allowed to return for his funeral.